should end by tuesday night. the first day of fall is saturday. sunshine. ll right. lauren, and as lauren continues to keep tabs onen fl, we'll go live to jim at 8: 30 this morning in north good morning. breaking overnight. fury of florence. the monster storm downgraded to a tropical storm overnight after roaring ashore as a category one hurricane. already nearly two feet of rain dropped o region and another foot and a half expected before the storm moves on. rising flood waters trapping people in their homes. crews from all over the country coming to help out with hundreds of rescues as nearly 1 million lose power. the deadly storm is far from over andorth carolina's governor warns entire communities could be wiped away

before it's endone. ill it let up? we are live in the middle of it all. today, saturday, september 15th 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today the fury of florence." live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >>ood morning. thank you for being with us for a special edition of "saturday today." peter alexander is with us. dylan is in wilmington, north carolina. keeping a close eye on tropical storm florence. dylan. >> reporter: sheinelle and peter, good morning. we are in a break in the rain here. here is the problem. there are some areas stuck in torrential downpours and the storm has now slowed down. if anyone in therea is deali with the heavy rain, they are going to be stuck in the heavy rain for perhaps hours. that's what will lead to more flooding. the storm now is still sitting and spinning.

the center of the storm over south calina and all of th heavy rain on the northeastern side of the storm. look at the movement at the bottom. west at 2 miles per hour. that is how slowly the storm is moving. all of the heavy rain. ange and red sitting across jacksonville, north carolina will be in the hea rain for are hours now. the storm will slowly continue to move west as we go through the next couple daysil it wl bring some of the heavy rain into interior nth and south carolina and try to rain itself outhe in ohio river valley and northeast by kentucky. we will see the mostsi t -- by wednesday. we willee the most by wednesday. those are the times we could get the 2 to 4 or 3 to 5 foot storm surge and in the rivers, we couldee a 4 to 7 foot storm surge. that is above high tide. that is the river flooding we are concerned about.

flash flood warnings are in effect because of the heavy bands moving through north ourolina. that lead to flash flooding at any point. remember, dounot drive t flooded roadways if you cannot tell how deep the water is. the flash flood threat is across eastern north carolina. could see 2 to 3 inche per hour in the tropical downpours. that is why we will see additional flooding. it moves inland before it brings the rain to ohio river valley. we could see 10 to 15 inches of additional rain. that could bring the totals up to 30 to 40 inches of rain. morehead cityas water on the ground. that could cause more flooding. although the winds are easing and we get occasional wind gusts. it is really t rain from here on out. that's what is going to cause the flooding potential a we go forward. guys. >> we are really in the thick of

it. dylan,hank you. let's give you a closer look at flthe numbers. ence is now a tropical storm with top sustained winds down to 50 miles an hour. >> officials say five storm related cldeaths. ing a woman and her infant. as it stands right now, nearly 1 million customers without power. majority of the outages in north caro ona. a quart them in south carolina. that number is likely to grow today as the storm progresses. >> let's get the latest from craig in wilmington as well this morning. craig, good morning to you. >> reporter: sheinelle, good to seei you. ant to show you. the winds have died down. i want to show you what the hurricane force winds from ar florence, of what they were responsible for here. if you look at that building -- we are not sure what kind of business that is -- but thetoof from tha building has now been scattered literally a brolock away. iethis debris is the roof of the building. again, the trail of destruction

from this storm, this is a trail that is long and wide. the wind came in hard. but it'ser the what's causing the most harm. >> chest of drawers on top of two cinder blocks. >> reporter: the storm surge reached 7 feet in partscaf north bing.and is still cl help arriving from around the country. in new bern alone, 360 pple have been rescued. >> it was terrifying. we were up in the attic. >> reporter: those who chose to stick it out, forced to keep above water and wait for help. >> a bad decision. >> reporter: getting around the flood waters can be treacherous. >> water is overflowing in the yard. common to see an alligator. here.ors out >> reporter: trees are down everywhere. blocking roads. crushing cars. taking out power lines.

close to 1 million waking upis thorning in the dark. and smashing homes. this new bern family barely escaped a cshing blow >> we all just camped out in the hallway in a line down the long hallway. we had gone inside and you hear boom and it rumbled t house. >> reporter: in wilmington, tragedy. fifighters struggled for hours to get to three people trapped in the home.fa the ther was rescued, but his wife and 8 month old did not make it. the faces of the firefighters telling the story. some knelt inay . >> it hits you home. regardless if yo o have kids not. it is a human life. >> reporter: 25,000 are inel ters and atlantic cityas casino opened hotel rooms to evacuees. it is hard to say how long they may be waiting to go home.d while the winds have decreased, the governors of north carolina and south carolina warning residents that

florence is fargo from ne. >> we have days of rain ahead of us. >>e haveo have patience. we will have to be careful for a long time and then we have to deal with a lot ofer w after the winds leave. >> reporter: at one point on friday, the hurricane force winds a few blocks away at the airport gusted up to 100 miles per hourt they spent mf the day at 80 miles per hour. this is part of the family dollar sign. that sign there was right there just yesterday. again, those winds is all over wilmington, guys. the wind is responsible for so much damage and the rains. the rains psisted for more than 30 hoursow not expected to top as dylan said for some time. >> stunning. this storm is still 650 miles wide. craig still in the heart of it

in wilmington. let's go to jacksonville, north carolina now where dozens of people had to beed res in the region which is still getting hit hard with rain. that is wherenbc's joe fryer is this morning. joe, good morning to you. >> reporter: sheinelle, peter,o morning. we are still seeing the heaviest bands of rain this mo unlike yesterday. it is now going up and down as opposed to sideways. it is still coming down.cr ible amounts of water. so much water in jacksonville where we'rest on court et. this is where the street comes to an end. the farther you go dn here, this is where the flooding starts for a few blocks. this neighborhoodr.s under wa you take a look in the middle of the street. a car that's largely under water with the trunk open. we can tell you when we were here last night, that car was not here. it appears at the flood waters in theushed the car location where it is now.hr two or minutes ago, we saw six deero going right to left.

jacksonville is a 20-mile drive from the ocean. t sits along the river which is prone toflooding. they were preparing for river flooding here. this may be higher than what they normally see and they a w stillried when you add up the storm surge and high tide and all of the rain that is ming down. the flood waters could still be rising here. river flooding is a concern in north carolina and south carolina and fndther in it doesn't take much rain for the rivers to overflow in theda coming . we will keep an eye on that. in addition to that in jacksonville, as you mentioned, some people have had to be rescued. about 30 people have beenm rescued fro their homes in jacksonville so far. the entire county with 100 people total rescued. it was early yesterday morning that 60 people had to be evacuated from the hotel because the storm actllyipped parts of the roof offf the hotel. we spoke with one man who was in the rooms. bill thomas. he said the roof suddenly collapsed on him and caught him

off guard. he was fromhe wilmington area. he came up here earlier this week hoping to escape the hurricane. in the end, the storm still had aim pact here. sheinelle and -- an impact here. sheinelle and peter. >> thank you. >> better t see deer in the waters than people. let's go back to see the region here. our frien miguel almaguer is there. miguel, you have shown us downed trees everywhere. thes makes acc to these areas that much more complicated. r,>> reporter: pe getting the downed trees out of the way will take time. mayor said it wl take weeks if not announce get the city back on its feet. theyere bracing for flooding event. they knew wilmington could be in the eye of the storm. we got the hurricane force winds and they were prepared for all of the water. it was the wind that did so much damage here knocking down tree after tree in neighborhood after neighborhood. it was difficult fordeirst

respon to maneuver around town here. bis is where a mother and small infant were killeause of a downed tree. another woman asleep on her couch. a tree sced through her home. they are still concerned about the flooding event. iner terms of p across the state, 775,000 people have no electricity. that number could actually rise here as we continue to get the gusts of wind as we see more flooding in the area. negetting the lights t back on will take time because of the downed trees. it is difficult for power crews to navigate through the neighborhoods. we know many folks have been told get ready to n have power for a week or two as they hunker down at home. peter. >> miguel, thank you. hundreds of thousands of people heeded the warnings to evacuate ahead of the storm, not everyone did. oneoman sayshe and her husband decided to ride out the storm after havingone through another hurricane and remembering how hard are it was to return me. >> this morning, their home is

surrounded by water and janet rivera wishes they left. she is in sneed's ferry, north carolina. she is joining us by phone. can you set the scene? what does it look like? you are on an island? >> we are. i'm actually looking out from the third floor now. the first floor has a bit of flooding. l i see is i'm surrounded by the ocea >> jeanette, you mentioned not to evacuate. take me bacto that decision and we will move forward. first why? >> we thought -- seval reasons. we thought it would be like matthew. we lost a little bit of the dock. a. bit of dama you know, it wasn't that bad. my husband is a doctor. ook sought, you know, it long for people to get back during matthew. some people could nk get bac up to two weeks because of the

flooding and roads being closed. we just thought, you know, hopefully it won't be that bad. >> jeanette, there is a feeling of i of invincibility of the areas that may not be bad. talk about the decision so it sticks for other people who consider staying in future storms? >> i will never ever stay there this.th noise. >> oh, no. >> you never want to experience it. knowing you are surrounded by water and hearing the noise and not knowing if your house will collapse into the water. that was the scariest and not knowin if we could get out. we have kayaks in the house at this point. knowing they told us if you stay we willot rescue you.

that's been a big point o contention in our minds. >> youentioned something that i hadn't thought about which is the sou of the water. especially at night overnight. how has that been for you? >> it is scary because it is so black. of we have not had electricity in three days. when you can't see. when you go to sleep, the last thing you were able to see was wave literally hitting your house. and my next door neighbor -- waves are just poundingis house. the view you have and you lay there all night and you can't see . you just have no idea. am i going to wake up? parts of me felt i would wake up to actually crashing down into the water. >> jeanette, peoe wonder if you have enough food, water, supplies? we are talking toou you or cell phone. i think batte

power. talk to me about how you are making it through. >> so we got this little gadget thlu we can our phones into that runs off. >> what? you faded out. what does it run off? it is like a little gadget you can charge your phone. you know, that battery powered device. we were able to.o th we don't have any electricity or anything. i actually made cofhie morning on the grill. e having te, we trouble with your signal. we are thinking about you. we will check in along the way. we hope you and your husband stay safe. >>yo thank in other news, president trump monitoring the storm for days and praising first responders on the ground. again, he tseting about the aftermath of hurricane maria and

his disbelief of the death toll in puerto rico. we have kelly o'donnell with more. >> reporter: good morning, sheinelle and peter. the president has made calls to officials in the florence zone. white house officials say the staff here has been in regular contact to help push forward needed resources. we have not seen the public in a couple of days. -- we have not seen the president in a couple ofys he has been active otwitter. he has also been venting frustration about lt year's hurricane and criticism of his administration'sesnse to the puerto rico catastrophe of hurricane maria. the president tweeted thi about the death toll in puerto rico. this is part of what he said in recent hours. over many months that death toll went to 64 people. then magic, 3,000 people killed. they hired the george washington research team to tell them how many died in puerto rico. continues.nt how would they not know this?

the method was never used i previous hurricanes because other jurisdiction know how many people were killed. in all caps, the predent tweets, 50 times last original er. no way. the president incredulous about the methods used to calculate the deaths over thestorm. it included things like not having power and not having clean water and so forth. the president not acknowledging nie deaths hap from florence. the storm we are in the middle of now. he does plan to visit the region next week when conditions permit. sheinelle. >> kelly, thank eeu. it like every year we report on one or two storms causing billion of dollars in damage to the affected areas. >> everyye , many wonder if this is the worst hurricane season yet. are thetorms getting worse and is it possible climate change is to blame? here is harry smith.

>> reporter: as we stare transfixed of the flooding and destruction from this and all over hurricanes. it behooves us of doing a comparison of climate change. what do we know about climate change and hurricanes? >> what we know certainly about climate chae and hurricanes is higher sea levels rise, the risk of sto surge flooding isoing up. we know the high degree of confidence that rainfall fromrm the sto is also increasing. >> reporter: adam is a professor at columbianiversity who specializes in atmospheric science. >> water is warmer throughout the planet. that adds to sea level rise a it gives additional fuel to the hurricanes. it can help make them stronger and more water vapo >> reporter: case in point. hurricane harvey. >> harvey produced a huge amount

of rain as it went through the atmosphe and also because it moved slowly over the houston area. this rain kept falling in the same place. >> reporter: places which once seem safe are now more than vulnerable to flooding and our desire to live near the sea has brought half the population to the coast. >> the behavior of wanting to live on ae coast economic need of governments to get tax revenue means we have put a lot of people inro very dan places. >> it sounds like it is not a good sidea. >> it beautiful. the coast is beautiful. we love it. we are drawn to it. it gives us satisfaction. especially now as storms are s tting worse and flooding getting deeper and hitting more places. it turns out to be a really bad idea. >> reporter: rob is an environmental planning expert. >> is it my major do storms cost more now? >> the amount of storms last year was the most expensi

storm season. storms are having greater impact and part is because we put more people in harm's way. more infrastructure. more ildings. more things to pay for and they are hitting further inland thano . >> reporter: the price tag for natural disasters in the u.s. last year was more than $300 billion. almost all of it storm related. the hardest hit are often the poor and working class. many don't have insurance or the means toes pe. let alone rebuild. >> what would you say about all of this to climate change deniers? >> sure. there are people who don't believe that climate chang is happening or humans are not the cause. the fact is changes are happening. everybody recognizes that and we will have to deal w mhe flooding and bigger storms regardless if you believe in climate change. >> reporter: for "today,"arry smith, nbc news, new york. there is more coverage of tropical storm florence justd.

ah but first this is "today" on nbc.

w will have much more ahead this morning, including forecast and the latest live fromorth and south carolina as we track the historic storm. >>ou see the pictures from across the region today. north carolina is hardiest hit. still expecting a foot of rain. and the latest from washington where president trump's former campaign chairman has pleaded guilty. [ phone rings ] hey maya. what's up? hey! so listen, i was taking another look at your overall financial strategy. you still thinking about opening your own shop? every day. i think there are some ways to help keep you on track. and closer to home. i'm all ears.

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so, why wait for a liver transplant? call upmc today. upmc. life changing medicine good morning. straight ahead kwooer tracking florence live from north carolina with jim handly. >> reporter: we are about 100 miles inland inar northina where the storm surge is not stopping. we'll tell you how muc worse it's going to get for so many folks here when i join you livet and we're going to talk about the storm surge and coasta flooding aspects around our area and how florence is going to impact us this weekend and into early next week. we have that coming up in a couple minutes. >> thank you. l that and in more headlines

this morning. >>ow we'll up the facebook live. we're back i

florence lingering over the carolinas this morning dumping ain on the already storm-batteredregion. >> this as water rescues continue this morning, but now first responders in north carolina are about to get some help from the d.c. regi >> plus back in our area an alleged serial rapist isd bars. find out how police got evidence they needeto crack this decade old case. welcome in on the 15th of september, 2018. good saturday morning. >> good morning. this morning we are still tracking florence for you. >> we are. this massive storm is just relentless. as downgraded to a tropical storm, but still it has proven

deadly. right now authorities sayt at leive people have lost their lives that the storm. rirst now worre trying to help those stuck in the water as even more rain is pouring down on them at this hour. >> at home lauren rickets is tracking the storm. seems like we dodged at. bul >> absolutely. it could have been a w lotse for our area. the locking area of high pressure is keeping that storm just hanging out right around that north carolina, south carolina coastline. again, we are going to see rain out of it. just nothing like they had seen down te carolinas. the rain shield, the outer rain shield right now, florence, still down to the south. we're talkingd aro the richmond area. we're seeing clouds out of here, out of the outer most bands. a little bit of drizzle. a little bit of light rain. that's it for our area. justs florence right now creeping along. 3 miles per hour. those winds are at 50 miles per hour. heavy rn continues to push

inland as the winds wrap around it, take t water offshore and push it right into area rivers. stm surge warnings still up for a lot of eastern northse carolina becll of this water comes off the atlantic, moves right into the rivers, ann tht has nowhere to go. storm surge definitel b a problem down there. even through washington, north carolinahich is where jim is right now. again, storm surge is going to continue not only for a day or so, but we're going to continue to watch flooding arou t this region come. we could have coastal flooding around our area when it's not raining. we'll talk about that and the impact of ference on 10-day forecast in about 15 minutes. >> lauren, we'll check in with you then.ki brea news is coming in with regard to this tropical storm florence. our jim handly is on the ground in washington, north carolina this morning. he's near the town of new burn

which is inaccessible. >> we knowhis is a deadly storm. what are you seeing and what do we know? >> reporter: well, you mentioned that breaking news. the death toll has claimed to 7. the two latest victims inland in north carolina. we are inland in north carolina, too. this is calwad ington. it goes back to 1776. little wasngton as the locals refer to it as. this is the heart of the downtown. king lot, a river walk. this is the river we've been telling you about since last night. there is salt water comin in because about 20 miless up i the sound and then the atlantic ocean. florence brought a lot of this e wa i've been walkabg around. crs crawling around me. this is all .brackish storm surge early yesterday was about 12 feet. tide. in low the next high tide is at 2:. they have a lot weighing against

them. 60% of this town without power. 950,000 people in both carolinas are without power right now. most t ofse about 750,000 are in the state of north carolina. many of those inland, many on the coastal areas that we've seen, wilmington. also myrtle beac sth carolina as well. the story inland here can take days and days. two years ago hurricane matthew, it took them two weeks before all the rivers, the tributariesk . they will be peaking. a lot of these rivers around us in this region, not until next thursday and friday. so that is the uphill battlse that t residents are facing. a lot of them sheltered in place. many of them evacuated. they're being told to stay away from this region for at least until monday o tuesday. they are worried they don't know what they're going to be back to. we're in greenville, north

carolina. staying in our tel, we drove in this morning. businesses,ta rants flooded out. auto parts stores flooded out almost abovehe doorways and a lot of homes inaccessible because the water has risen so far. you've seen the rescues in newburn. it's about 35 minutes awarom us over this bridge right now. that's inaccessible right now. residents cannot go back in. velot still cannot get back out. we're going to much more coming up at 9:15 oner theus days ahead for these residents here inland in north carolina. >> jim, given that a lot of folks down there don't have power -- is jim still with ? all right. we'll check back in with him. let's move on. we cl continue tonect with him. >> even thou florence has t downgrad a tropical storm as you saw, it's still wreaking havoc in north carolina. maryland is now helping out in the relief efforts. >> that brings us to derek ward.

he joins us from wall of dor of where the ems is sending a team. good morning. >> good morning. waldorf folks here at station 3 just off crane highway are starting a long tour of duty ahea of them in north carolina. this is what they're going to ce fa 13-foot storm surges. waste deep water. 750,000 people without power in north carolina alone. that's what these folks are o going down there to help with. they'll be sending 11 folks and equipment to take care of whatever they can to help out the local crews and other crews from oth areas that he headed down to north carolina. of course, the departments in this immediate area have amu al assistance agreement. itex tends farther than our local areas when l stormse this hit. we hope later to be able to talk to some of the folksn headed d and find out what they expect

and what they learned from these sort of tours and what they will do once they get there. again, they'll be leaving here at about 10:00. they'll be driving down. it's going to be a long road ahead. there will be folks to tak care of waldorf. they're sending 11 people and enme equi it will be much needed and i m suh appreciated when they get down there. we're live in waldorf. back to you. >> the death toll is rising to 7, and ty're especially needed down there. the biggest concern for virginia was flooding. initial forecasts had florence barrelling toward hampton rd sparking a state of emergency. a lot of residents evacuated up to our area. they're headed they were boarding up their homes before aving and for some folks, florence was not going to stop them from doing their duties. >> florence, isabel before. a lot of different storms. weree always

it the u.s. postal service hard worries.here despth many residents are grateful that florence spared the area. cf jos andre is at it again feeding victimsf a disaster. our robert harrison caught up with him. andre and his team have delivered food to p feedple in shelters in north carolina. he says he's happy the federal government learned from the h aftermath ricane maria in puerto rico last year. barbara asked him about president trump rejecting maria's official death toll of nearly 000 people. >> why? nobody is going to make a president responsible like did it, kill every one of those people, but the lack of empathy, the lack of recognizing that the death toll was much higher, and the death toll that didn't

ppen through the hurrica ripping the island but happened on the weeks and months uater. that ay tells you how little effortal the feder government had in making sure that we will be fixing the issues. >> world central kitchen hopes to provide enough food for 150,000 meals for victims of florence. >> some of you now on this saturday. a suspected serial rapist is behind barsithoutbond. montgomery county police arrested marlinlexander. he's accused of raping at least three women. the crimes happened betwe 20007 and 20011. dna collected at each scene matched. a priva company tested the dna in a database of samplebm ted to genology websites. >> our officer who has some experience in these family history searches and genology

worke were a to identify mr. alexander. >> and detectives are combingth ih other unsolved cases to see alexander is cnected to any of those. the family of a d.c. murdered child is now trying to see the alleged in court. they were hoping to see them. what happened with lawyers that pu stop to that case. we'll explain it when news 4 today continues. a lot as your home becomes more connected,

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months after a young d.c. girl was killed in a shootout, her family still waiting for justice. >> she was killed when several men opened fire atn apartment complex back in july. since then two arrests have been made but yesterday in front of the family, a judge delayed the first hearingor those two men.

>> we spoke with the family outside the courtroom. >> reporter: dozens of family members and friends of the girl incl her mother, father and sister crowded into the courtroom. but the jge delay the hearing. saying that both of the suspects in t case were entitled to new attorneys. one because the suspect said he didn't like the rep sentation getting. the other attorney, the judge ruled, she had a conflict of interest. e the e the courtho mother of the girl expresseder frustration that the proceedings were being delayed and that the other three suspects haven't be caught. >> it's sad going to sleep at night waking up at night and knowing there's people out here. >> the evening of july 16th turned deadly in this crowded courtyard of play terrace in northeast d.c. when four jumped out of a black infinity that had been carjacked weeks earlier and opened fire. spraying 76 bul atsoss the courtyard.

five people were hit. one of those 76 bullets pierced the heart of n-ar-old makia unlson on her way out of the houseng to the ice cream truck. in late august two men were heired and charged with the death. emotions ran high inside and outside thehe courthouse the two suspects made their first appearance before a judge. the shootinghat kille wilson appears to have been a retaliatory attack by one gang against another. she was an innocent byander. in cou documents police say one of the suspects was recorded while talking to a d.c. jail inmate over the phone after the shooting using coded language calling it a terrorist attack. the judge will appoint new defense attorneys or the weekend. they're all due back in court on thursday. tside d.c. superior court mk seagraves news 4. >> all right. u're taking a live look

outside union station. you can see a little bit of a breeze. dreary day. lauren rickets is back in a moment to let us know how florence is impaing our area. the time now is 8:44. stay with us.

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and, get $200 toward a range of google and nest smart home devices. go to getfios.com to switch today. 100% fiber-optic network. 100% phenomenal. for several days we've talked about coastal flooding during high tideal g the potomac. we found out rising water

the only problem. >> the rising water is forcing more rats out into the open. all righ shomari stone took at the look at the problem on the watfront. >> reporter: as the sunsets over the georgetown water front and ducks jegently swim in the potomac. the scene doesn't comfort some businesses. edward manages tony ands jo seafood place where businesses drop like water in this fountain. >> it's not jus me ohe ownership or the harbor. it's every employee getting this.ted by >> reporter: affected by this week's coastal flooding from the potomac it's filled rat holes pushing the rodents inland. >> the water goes up, the rats live next to the river. the water goes up the rats have to go somewhere.

>> reporter: the flood gat sepa from staurestaurants. i don't the rats to come through and scare everyby. >> reporter: shawn mackenzie has seen the r os on thether side of the wall. >> i look and i'm like that's disgusting. t i can't stase rats. >> reporter: a d.c. councilmember. >> we're going to have a lot moree' rats than had in a little while. >> everybody is biting their breath waiting for what the hurricane w does,t the flooding situation does. >> that's shomari stone reporting. right now a live look outside. a dreary day. misty this morning. but you know what? sthe thing here we pretty much dodged a bullet. when you look at everything that's hpening down in north carolina and the southern region of our country here, it's pretty dramatic >> it is. yeah. and as we're looking live at union station, you can see we're seeing a strong breeze. it's interesting. lauren is pointing out this

storm, florence is so massive. even though it's t downgraded width is given the effects up here. that's what we're feeling with the storong breezes. >> absolutely. this was over 400 miles from end to end. massive hurricane. now is a tropical storm. it's shrinking a little bit in sizeau b the cloud shield is shrinking. the rain shield is shrinking a that's what we'll continue to see. catching my breath because i just ran in here. >> let me tell you something, catch your breath. i'll sing your praises. su g have done awesome this week. >> thank you. i was like i'm going to pass out. no, and you did awesome as well. you were in virginia beach with our storm ranger. thank you. and meghan, you always do well. >> i haven't been on the weather. you guys have beekilling it. thank you. it's been a lot.

tonight.ack at 6:00 we'll keep you informed as we continue to watch the track of florence. one thing i want to talk about, a lot o people want to know, is this weekend a washout? no. we ang to be fine throughout the weekend. a few showers possible, but that's about it. will be breezy out there. it will be cloudyut there. coastal flooding. that will continue to be a possibility all theou way t tuesday of next week. do you cancel plans this weend? no. download the nbc washington app. isolated showers through the i wt cancel plans. day. it's not a washout. sunshine is coming. we'll have s niceetch of weather as we get into wednesday and friday of next week. radar showing a few sprinkles and rhere's then shield. these sprinkles are coming off the atlantic. we're getting the easterly flow. that's why we see the fog and the cloud cover out there. rainhowers to the south toward richmond. that's the outer most band.

here's florence. again, winds at 50 miles per hour. there's the eye right there of circulation. it's closed now. again, the center of circulation. avy rain continues to pound areas of jacksonville. wilmington, wrightsville beacas these are are seeing heavy rain over and over again. almost 20 inches of rain in that area. high pressure. this high pressure blocked . one from going anywhere and omt, coming up into our area. it's to the south. the wind dirtion around the area of high pressure is clock wise. counter clock wise around the pressure.ow so with this we get the easterly flow. so even if it's not raining re, we're going to have some coastal flooding around the area. as this thing tracks of us, that easterly flow will lighten up a little bit, but it's going to takeil this thing is a crawling at snail's pace. again, the winds at 50 miles per

hour. it hugs around monday into tuesday, and that's when we could see impacts felt re a little heavier rain possible for the area. again, saturday we're looking at a few spotty showers as we continue through the day today. not going to be raining all day. we'll have a few spotty owers. same deal tomorrow. wake up to fog. spotty showers. if you're headed to the redskins game, fine. know there could be a few showers out there. as we head intounday night and monday, that's when the remnants start to push north and north and east. we will have rain on tuesday.into bug to be raining all day on tuesday. only on tuesday morning. 'll get late day clearing. temperatures in the 80s. wednesday, thursday, friday beautiful. we could see storms on monday. i think they're going to lie west. we'll talk about your zones for monday and tuesd in your neighborho.

hurricane update. we have an al day othe crossing the road. run, gator. run. >> just agator. >> we would find meghan nowhere near this thing right here. i th out of south carolina. the woman had some concerns about her new neighbor during florence. i'd beconcerned. an alligator just crossing the road during the hvy rain. >> what a sight. >> made it across. >> listen,lorence can't damping the spirits of a bride trying to t the ot. a couple planned to get married on the beach in north carolina until hurricane florence decided to show up. perfect timing. right? not. the reservations were booked and paid for but a mandatory evacuation threw all the plans out the window. now they'll exchan vows in their hometown in west virginia an the mayor is letting them have the ceremony ait hall for free. we're not the only ones

dealing with severe weather. a typhoon slamming into the north eastern coast of the philippines. the winds ripped off two roofs and knocked out power. officials say the storm is equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. more than 5 million people are at risk from the storm. >> incredible. all righe want to g you a live look outside union station. a bit breezy and overcast. lauren rickets will be back to let us know the imct that tropical storm florence is having on our region. your time now is 8:56. stay with us.

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s. the storm has weakened by the rain isoung into the carolinas this morning. tropical storm florence has already killed aleast seven peel and d couldump into the three feet of rain on folks who are just trying to clean up damage. >> help from the air?la ma emergency workers are getting set to head south to help as rescue efforts continue for those stuck in the astruction. >> alleged serial rape it is behind cars. police say a genology website helped them crack a decade old cold .ca >> we welcome you back into news

4 today on this saturday morning. good morning to you. >> good morning. thank you for joining us. we are continuing to follow the affects of now tropical storm florence. we know that so fareven people ve died from the storm. we have jim down there tracking itor f us. first, we want t check in with lauren rickets in the weather center. good morning, lauren. >> good morning, meghan and david. we're looking at some very- a very dire situation still ongoing in eastern north carolina and south carolina. right now we're on the very northern edge of any clo that is coming through florence. a lot of this coming from the cean, the atlancean with this easterly flow we're getting. we have the winds com off the atlantic. it brings moisture and brings it into here in the form of cloud cover. we've seeing that and drizzle. we get saturated and i forms in